The phenomenon of Stochastic Resonance, proposed for the first time in 1981 (R. Benzi, S, Sutera, A. Vulpiani, J. Phys. A 14, L453, 1981; C. Nicolis, G. Nicolis, Tellus 33, 225, 1981) has attracted continuous attention in the last 30 years. Most of its fortune among scientists and the public at large is due to its counter-intuitive characteristic: given a non-linear dynamic system, the degree of order in its behavior can be increased simply by injecting more noise, i.e. increasing the disorder. Clearly what triggered researchers’ curiosity the most was the suggestion that noise, often considered a nuisance of small influence, can play instead a very significant role with potential applications to biological systems and technological devices.

In 1998 an international team of scientists wrote the most comprehensive and, to date, the most appreciated review article to describe this phenomenon: